Longboard Carving Tips (Beginner Tutorial)

[@TheSurfskateboarder]

Awesome stuff Billy. The main things I would add: I try to tell beginners to have reasonable expectations. Skateboarding, surfskating, long boarding are all tough to learn if you don’t have experience. You’re learning a new skill. No one picks up a guitar and masters cords and starts playing songs day one. So expect it to take time getting comfortable with just basic riding. Board feel. Etc. After that, I tell beginners that everything starts with your eyes. Eyes guide the head, which guide the shoulders, which guide the hips, legs and thus where you go. Basically, look where you want to go and explore orienting everything else in that direction. As always, I love what you’re doing. Keep up the great work.

[@concrete-waves]

Those are some great points david thanks for sharing 🙏 Much love dude!

[@Eijiken]

Something that I've found helps people is to try to visualize your carves as you skate. Giving myself fun imaginary, curvy "lines" to skate along makes it more fun and gameifies the experience. Also a fun subconscious trick for the future people who read the comments: Practice this to some music you like! A big key with carving is to relax, smoothly flowing into your carves. Using the tip from before, you can carve to the beat (whether on beat for slower songs, or every half or whole beat for faster) which really unlocks the fun of all of this: finding that vibe and cruising/flowing along. Just make sure you can hear your surroundings! You can tell I lean more into the longboard dancing 🤣🤣

[@concrete-waves]

Carve to the beat! I like that 🔥 Great advice thanks for sharing

[@cursorygame]

This totally make sense. Appreciate you pointing it out.

[@kjahsdbkjasl]

Heyo, when I started with it, I found it really useful to look at the exact place I want my current carve path to get to. Dont worry about the deepness/shallowness of the curve of the path. Just look at that location and your body kinda automatically adjusts weight to get you there or close enough to it (kinda like how you ride a bike at high speeds)

[@concrete-waves]

Great advice 🙏 thanks for sharing this

[@mariozogbo790]

Love the new direction of the videos!

[@concrete-waves]

Stoked to hear that!

[@AdventuresInSkateboarding]

I noticed the other day when I am doing carves with force for speed, I tend to hang a bit of the ball of my front foot over the FS of the board and a bit of my back heel over the BS of the board. It helps me to really put force into the rails when pumping. It also sets up for a nice power slide.

[@nateross14]

100% Billy!! .......* Warning *Rambling long post (coming from a Surfskater perspective) ........ I love this stuff. I do this shoulder opening, and also reach with my leading arm like I'm reaching out to where I'm turning to as I open my shoulder. There are so many ways to carve and I don't always carve like this. But IMO, the huge importance of what's being shown in this vid by Billy is that this opening of the shoulders trains your body to be comfortable and confident, trusting the carve, and even twisting your upper torso to looking where you want to go. If you don't do this (and also rotate your head looking in advance where your carving to), then youre turning into the carve blindly which is very unsettling for a beginner. Practicing movements off board like shown in this vid really helps a ton......off the board, see how far you can twist and rotate your head and upper torso trying to look behind you while keeping your lower body and feet planted. Don't strain or hurt yourself, but eventually your flexibility will improve and you will gradually be able to twist and rotate further. After you get super comfortable with this opening the shoulders, and gain a lot of trust and confidence in the feeling of carving, there is so much more you can do to make your riding and carving dynamic. Don't get stuck in the stagnant trap of just carving exactly the same way every time! You will eventually get bored of riding the same way all the time.....riding can be art and expression. Realize you can ride anyway you like and its super rewarding unlocking new movements and techniques you didn't know you could do.Just take your time and don't try and rush the process....you'll get there. There's no Substitute for time on the board. Ride, Ride,Ride. I totally agree about foot placement in this vid for Beginners....by angling the front foot a little, really helps initially. As beginners get more advanced though, turning completely sideways without angling the front foot and also bending your knees while leaning back and " sitting down" into the carve, offers another amazing carving experience that gives you the feeling that you are sitting in a seat as you carve with centrifugal force holding you up. One of my favorite feelings carving. One other thing that really helped me learning to carve was when I started to use my knees, and realized I didn't have to just stand straight up on the board all the time. The lower you are on the board, the more stable you are and you feel safer and more in control. I know this is a lot of info and not trying to overcomplicate or confuse Beginners.... Just get down the basics of opening the shoulders and looking (and even reaching with your leading arm) where you want to go and build from there. I wanted to post this just as reference for what has helped my riding/carving progress, and to convey the idea and hopefully help inspire that there is so much you can do, on a board. Just go at your own pace!

[@concrete-waves]

Dude this comment is legendary status! Appreciate all of this 🙏 Trust the carve. It’s an expression of yourself 🔥

[@nateross14]

@@concrete-waves Yeah man, Thanks! Keep these vids coming!

[@kaiplaygame6808]

I unintentionally started doing this when im vlogging and livestreaming my longboarding and skogging journeys. If i needed to make a turn or a carve, i would point the camera to the direction i wanted to go which made my shoulders and upper body more mobile and less static. It works but i need to practice it more

[@concrete-waves]

Haha that's awesome. Whatever works!

[@ReinLie]

Really what you need to focus on is not the front arm, but the back arm. In surfing which is where all this stems from, there is the "coffee mug arm" pose that forces you to open your stance toward the direction of the carve. I started with surfing / surf skating, and found it very natural to carve on a cruiser as a result of that stance training.

[@concrete-waves]

Totally! Great advice 🙏 Surfskates really helped me engage my upper body more

[@mr.j774]

so continue to nail down the things i was already kinda picking up instinctually? got it! love the content bro keep it up.

[@concrete-waves]

Yup pretty much! And thanks 😎🙏

[@goofyfootgreg]

What’s helped me and my carving is really paying attention to my heel and toe pressure (especially in my lead foot) and trying to draw out/lengthen each carve 🤙✌️

[@wisconsinkraut3445]

Im pretty new and what really helped me was to think about throwing my weight around instead of standing straight over my board and using only heel toe

[@concrete-waves]

That’s a great way to describe it! Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@andrewbentley8352]

I found it super helpful to lead with your shoulders, turning them and letting your hips follow through.

[@concrete-waves]

Totally. Appreciate ya sharing 🔥🙏

[@mickey_310]

This channel deserves a million subs ❤

[@orHekt]

I ride a motorbike and find that skills longboarding have helped me ride and the reverse as well. And just skating in general, the skills are really transferable.

[@concrete-waves]

Interesting! I wouldn’t have thought that but I can see why

[@michaell8002]

I surfskate front on. My back arm is holding a cup of coffee. Don't pet the cat with back arm. Back arm steers. Made me significantly better. 😊🤙

[@concrete-waves]

Yes! Sometimes I find myself standing almost completely forward. These are some great tips and I definitely should've touch on the back arm. Thanks for sharing this Michael 🙏

[@mayoeater99]

Great video as always, best boarding channel on youtube🔥🔥

[@concrete-waves]

Appreciate that 😎🙏

[@cursorygame]

Dude. You're the goat. Thank you....yet AGAIN...

[@concrete-waves]

Haha no prob. I appreciate that 🤙

[@eBoard3R]

*Awesome tips!* Even more experienced riders can benefit from these. 🤙🏽🤟🏽👌🏽🤟🏽🤙🏽 I love carvin... but what I need to work more on is tight turns toe side when I'm commutin amongst cars 😂 I can carve toeside and heelside fine but it's those more precise, slightly slower toe side turns durin my commute that are not as comfortable/precise as I want 😭 Heelside tight turns are so much easier for me 😂

[@concrete-waves]

I feel ya on those tight toeside turns 😂 Always appreciate your comments bro 🙌

[@_Ramen-Vac_]

I like pointing my back toe towards the tail to carve frontside ~especially carving banks. . . in ditches, where the most fun elves dwell.

[@concrete-waves]

Haha those elves know how to shred!

[@_Ramen-Vac_]

@@concrete-waves I started skating in '85 offa BMX and rollerskating.. In a BMX Plus mag, Fred Blood did the first 540 in a bowl that spread-eagle way with the back skate backwards. I wanted skates like his, but they'd cost like double or 4/3 that a skateboard did, so I got a Lucero 1 SchmittStix and never looked back.

[@calypsofox150]

Love this, and all your vids

[@lulunomu]

i don't wanna toot my own horn, but i can do some pretty sharp and grippy snowboard carves. like i can follow the tracks of the possi possi race board pepls on my park board. and i just that coordination or awareness of my body has kinda made me intuitively do all the things in this video and more. I think something i do for really sharp carves is opening the shoulders like you said, but also getting really low bending the legs and using the shoulders to steer into the turn. not letting the skateboard turn you, but you turning the board, starting all the way up from the shoulders and down to the feet.

[@Tr3at_y0_self]

Dope video as always! What boards are you using

[@concrete-waves]

Thanks! I am using a YOW Calmon deck (L: 41″ x W: 10″ x WB: 27″) with Paris trucks and venom bushings (91a I think)

[@asphtherogue]

Never really thought of it (the shoulder thing) for skateboarding as I've been doing it for so long; but am way more concious of it since (just!) starting on a cruiser. It feels pretty similar to how you approach Snowboarding tbh (to me anyway).

[@concrete-waves]

Ya totally! A lot of similarities between snowboarding and cruising 🙏

[@pbfloyd13]

It sounds simple but looking wher you want to go IE turning your head to look where you want to go, for me it helps my shoulders hips and feet flow naturally in the direction I want to go

[@concrete-waves]

Totally! That helps me too. Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@alexdales6759]

Coming from a snowboarding background it feels wrong to have the back foot pointed forwards. I assume I have been pointing it backwards but I will have to check next time I go skate. I will make a conscious effort to where my back foot is pointing and hopefully I can get deeper into my carves. Another great video! Good tips that make me want to get out and skate.

[@concrete-waves]

I know what you mean! I've honestly never paid too much attention to my snowboarding stance until recent years. Actually now that I think about it... I think my backfoot is slanted slightly backwards on my snowboard... hmmm. Maybe because switching between stances is more common in snowboarding vs longboard cruising 🤔 You've given me a lot to think about now lol

[@alexdales6759]

@@concrete-waves I checked and my back foot does naturally point forward on my cruiser. I don't ride one, but I have seen the alpine snowboards where both feet point forwards. Those boards are more for carving so they seem like the better analog for a longboard. One thing I can not explain is why I snowboard goofy, but skateboard regular.

[@concrete-waves]

@@alexdales6759 Whoa interesting! Ya i can't explain that one haha. But honestly I'd say it's helpful for getting comfortable riding switch 🤷‍♂

[@icantsee0]

This video gives ninja's " I'm not seeing enough movement " vibes 😂😂

[@concrete-waves]

Hahaha yup pretty much nailed it 😂

[@RS-xq6je]

As soon as my carving improves I'll come back and state what helped 😂

[@ibabl410]

you should make another shirt ( my Shred Shack shirt is outdated)

[@concrete-waves]

I'd love to do shirts again! The only issue is there are multiple sizes to stock. I've thought about doing print on demand but I like shipping myself to make sure everything is quality. Right now I am working on a surfskate deck (should be available in 1-2 months), but I definitely have the intention on coming out with more merch!

[@alterablebark54]

simple tip for carving: dont hit road dust or you'll be eating said road dust

[@concrete-waves]

Dude yes. The sketchiest times I’ve had was when I was leaning deep into a carve and hit a pebble / road dust

[@alterablebark54]

@@concrete-waves Totally, I was bombing like half a hill to not build up too much speed and thought 'ill just burn my speed off on a side road before getting down the really steep part' but hit a patch of road dust then what i assumed happened was my back truck slid out on the dust, and all of my limbs have been sore for the last week, and if i wasnt wearing my sweater i probably wouldve been a meat crayon on the road

[@stecam3121]

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